My horse is also really headshy besides my rolling post. I think she may have been abused, she really hates the lunge whip. Others tell me its the racehorse part of her. A couple other things that I need advice on are

Barn Sour (likes to stay with her buddies)
Leading and she freezes up WONT BUDGE.
Holds her head really high, I use a martingale but maybe I need a dif kind.
I also posted about her rolling.

I can tell she has potential otherwise I wouldnt waste my time with her but I don't know if these are signs of something specific or just a bunch of bad habits.

Honestly, it just sounds like you need to take her back to ground work...work on desensitizing her body to touch and whip, free lungining, teaching her to walk with you, trusting you as a partner, etc.

I would get that martingale off of her right away. If she has that many issues, tying her head down (when she already has issues with her head in the first place) and making it a claustrophobic situation is not going to help.

I agree, you need to build more trust with her. Maybe try this. For 7 days in a row go and sit with her for 30 minutes in her stall/paddock. As you go in, act as though she is not even there. Sit down and observe her in a very.......secretive way. Don't look at her full on. Take note of what she does. Does she ignore you? Does she turn her butt to you? Does she get nervous/antsy? Does she come right over? Note how long it takes her to come over to you, if she does at all. Some horses need a lot of time to be able to take that step. When she comes over to you, DO NOT reach out to touch her. Let HER be the first one to make contact. Even then, try not to touch her. She needs to investigate you and learn that she can trust you.

If in the beginning she doesn't come over to you, don't take it personally. Don't be mad, frustrated or sad. Just say, "How Interesting" and understand that that behavior is a very good indicator of your relationship and how she really feels about you.

I agree about removing the martinagale. I am finding more and more that the less restrictive aides, the better. You can develop the head and body frame you want in time with the right training. This horses frame sounds like a low priority at the moment though.

I agree that it sounds like this horse could use some serious time with ground work and boding. Parelli, Lyons, or just getting to know you. A week is not enough time for this horse to know or trust you. I would spend some undemanding time with her (brushing, handing out in the pen, petting, leading to a grassy area to graze for a few minutes, etc.). Work on getting over the leading freeze ups first. There are some Parelli exercises that would be good for that, but I think John Lyons has some methods too, and a trainer in your area might also be able to help. If my horse did that, I would probably drive him in several circles at the trot when froze, and then simply give him the opportunity to walk forward with me again. After doing this a few times, I would hope that he would get the idea that it is much less work to simply walk forward that to be driven in circles.

When you begin working on the riding challenges, I would suggest just getting out a lot on trails and in the arena, and even travelling places, to get over the buddy sourness - with time and experience that should fade.

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